Caption: The placegetters after Vayda Bale won the second running of the Bidgee Cup last year.
NSW Wrap with GRNSW’S SIMON ORCHARD
THE 2023 Ladbrokes Bidgee Cup (525m) will be run across the opening two weeks of November with a fierce interstate rivalry set to be renewed at our southernmost track.
The race, worth $25,000 to the winner, was run twice last year and claimed on both occasions by the powerful Grenfell kennel with Vayda Bale.
But club president, Ben Talbot, hopes more big names will descend on Wagga Wagga for the heats on November 3, before the final on November 10.
“Corey [Grenfell] has won the race three times in a row now, but Ray Sims has a couple of nice 500m dogs coming through, Peter Sims has a few nice ones sneaking about and there’s a good few young local dogs coming through,” Talbot said.
“I’d imagine you’d see Scorching Boy in the line-up as well who qualified for the Goulburn Cup final and hopefully the likes of Anthony Azzopardi and Jason Thompson show a bit of interest as it would be great to have them in town too.
“We’re smack bang between The Meadows and Wentworth Park so hopefully trainers can make the trip to town.”
The annual showcase event in the Riverina also includes The Wagga 400 and Bidgee Brisk (320m) deciders (both worth $3000 to the winner) and a fifth grade final worth $2500.
“We think we’ve covered a few more bases this year with some other races on the program and we’re really trying to cater for as many people as we can,” Talbot said.
“We’re also in the second year of the ‘Bidgee’ concept. The horses in town have always had the Gold Cup and we thought we needed to separate ourselves from them and make our own brand.
“We wanted something that represented the Riverina area and we wanted it to stand out as a Wagga club feature.”
The Wagga Wagga circuit also underwent significant upgrades in the past 12 months to make the venue as safe as possible.
“We’ve spent the last 12 months really focusing on track safety and animal care. Wagga has had a reputation for having a few injuries but we’ve done everything we can to make the track safer,” Talbot said.
“We’ve got a new safety rail, we’ve got a complete back fence now so it goes from the 320m boxes right through, we’ve resurfaced the track so it can stand up in the wet or dry climate, and the camber on it now is really good.
“We’re also confident of having a double hoop arm on in time for the Cup.”
MDC wrap
ANOTHER year down and another wave of success stories came out of the sixth Ladbrokes Million Dollar Chase carnival.
Jay Is Jay confirmed his status as a superstar of the sport after claiming his greatest ever prize for trainers Selena and Michael Zammit.
The win came after the kennel admitted they almost threw in the towel after finishing fourth in the Grafton regional final of the world’s richest race series.
“I told Michael if he can’t even finish third at Grafton, how can he win the final at Wentworth Park?” Selena said.
The second favourite relished a beautiful rails run early to overcome a brave and bold Cumbria Kid for Steve Fitch, and the pre-race fancy in Postman Pat to become the first ever Queenslander to take out the race.
Jay Is Jay is owned by Selena’s mother Lillian Jones and named after her late husband Jeff Jones.
Zipping Vanessa added another feature final to her growing resume with a decisive victory in the Group 2 Sydney Cup.
The daughter of Feral Franky won with ease in a time of 41.81, taking her career earnings to a tick under $180,000 from just 24 starts.
Rocket Riot handed Peter Lagogiane more success on what has become his favourite racing night of the calendar with victory in the Young Stars final.
The son of Barcia Bale producing a splendid early split of 5.33 in the final to lead from go to woah and stop the clock in 29.64.
Hong Kong-based hoop Brenton Avdulla celebrated success in the Masters Meteor with Fernando Hunter claiming the $100,000 feature for trainers Michelle Sultana and Darryl Thomas.
While perhaps the biggest story of the night came in the Ladbrokes Million Dollar Chase Maiden.
Zipping Megatron announced himself as potentially the future of chasing in NSW with a brilliant 29.42 romp in just his second race start.
The slashing win came a week after he completely blew the start in the preliminaries.
“That’s how I expected him to jump in his heat,” trainer Jason Magri said.
“He is an exciting prospect and now I will take him through his grades at Wenty and hopefully have him ready for the National Derby in January.”
Around the grounds
PLANNED track upgrades have begun at The Shoalhaven Greyhound Racing Club with a new running rail and safe chase lure system to be unveiled in the coming months.
Certain parts of the track are also being adjusted with racing to recommence on Boxing Day.
And the Richmond Straight Track commenced drag lure racing on October 24 with participants seemingly giving the change the tick of approval after an influx of nominations for the meetings.
